When it comes down to it
by Hammy Uchiha
Summary: Sasuke and Sakura have gotten stuck on a mission together. Which would be great except ever since Sasuke got back he and Sakura have been at odds. Can the two get over their distances to get the mission finished?


**Another one shot about my favorite psychos. Well they're not psychos, but whatever...**

** Oh yeah, and sorry if anyone's a little ooc...  
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**Note: I don't own Naruto, if I did Obito would never have died.**

**Please Read and Review. If you don't leave a review, Sai's abs may be forced to give you a call... **

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**When it comes down to it…**

By Hammy Uchiha

The Uchiha walked slowly, alert for any sign of danger.

"Of all the people I had to get stuck on this mission with, it had to be you," came the accusing voice behind him. Sasuke completely ignored her annoying comment. Ever since he had returned to the village he and Sakura Haruno had been at odds. She refused to forgive him for what he had done, and she could not tolerate him at all. They had complained to Tsunade about it and she was not to put the two of them on a mission together. Somehow this had happened though and now they were stuck together until this mission was over.

"Even Sai would've been a better partner," said the pink haired kunoichi. Sasuke stopped, that was taking it too far.

"Do you think I want to be stuck on this mission any more than you do?" he demanded angrily. "Even Ino would've been a better partner,"

The two glared angrily at each other, the tension so thick you could've cut it with a butter knife. Sakura narrowed her eyes, folded her arms and walked on. Sasuke let out an annoyed sigh, and followed after her.

They were the last leg of a relay of an important scroll. Their job was to get to the arranged spot and meet up with Ino and Sai who were bringing it, and then they would turn around and make it back to the village as quickly as possible. As easy as it may have sounded, there would be ninjas out there to stop them.

As the sun grew low in the sky they decided to stop. Sakura set up her tent as Sasuke built a small fire. When Sakura had finished she sat down and glared at the Uchiha, who easily ignored her.

"I'll take the first watch," he said. Sakura was still glaring at him.

"Fine," she answered and went into her tent. Sasuke sat around the fire for a while, until Sakura angrily told him to put it out because she couldn't sleep.

"Fine, Miss Bossy," he said kicking dirt onto the fire.

"What did you call me?" yelled Sakura sticking her head out of the tent.

"A lazy, big foreheaded jerk," replied Sasuke smoothly. "I'll wake you up for the second shift," he said. Sakura's eyes were flaming in blazing hate.

"If I wasn't already in bed, you'd be dead right now," she snarled at him. Sasuke shrugged and leapt up into a tree. Growling angry words Sakura zipped back up her tent.

The night slid slowly by and when it was half over, Sasuke considered waking up Sakura but decided against it. She could sleep the whole night, he'd take the watch.

The next thing Sasuke knew the long warm rays of the sun were flooding the green forest in pale shades of gold. He leapt from the tree, berating himself for falling asleep.

"Sakura," he called pulling on his backpack. "It's time to go." There was a groan, then a shuffling of blankets and then out poked a messy head of pink hair. Sakura was not amused.

"You let me sleep in?" she demanded as if the fact she had slept in was his fault. Sasuke didn't feel like privileging her with a response. She pulled her head back in and within a minute she had changed and had emerged from her den, wearing her usual red shirt and khaki skirt. She took a moment to glare at Sasuke who was waiting.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" she asked. Sasuke shrugged.

"How do you know I'm staring at you and not that spider crawling in your hair?" he asked. Sakura's eyes widened in horror, in a moment she had flown into a panic, shaking her head and running around screaming. Sasuke sighed and turned. _That is the oldest one in the book._ Finally Sakura stopped and turned to Sasuke, her hair all messed up.

"Oh, nice one," she said angrily. "There was no spider,"

"Well, when you decide to get your act together you can catch up," said Sasuke walking off.

"Why you….?"

The Uchiha walked slowly giving her a chance to catch up. Sakura didn't take long, she came running up from behind and walked ahead of Sasuke. Sasuke let her lead, its not like he cared.

"Just to let you know, I will get you back," said Sakura finally.

"I'd like to see you try," replied Sasuke calmly. At that moment he sensed it, faint and distant but alarming none the less. Sakura continued to rant on about what a jerk Sasuke was, obviously she hadn't felt it. Sasuke narrowed his eyes looking around. They were now in the danger zone.

"Sakura don't walk so far ahead," he cautioned her. Sakura looked back at him with a 'yeah right' look on her face. She walked farther ahead.

_Idiot._ Sasuke felt it coming before he saw anything. In a single move he tackled Sakura.

"What's wrong with you?" she demanded. Sasuke couldn't answer; he rolled out of the way as kunai hit the ground around them. Sakura's eyes widened in horror. Sasuke made a final move getting behind a tree. Sakura too had gotten into a safe place. He had no idea where she was, but they were no longer safe.

He flattened his back against the tree, breathing heavily. He didn't get into situations like this. Never.

Sakura peeked past her tree, narrowly missing a cenbon. _Sasuke was trying to protect me…_ She couldn't believe it. Sasuke didn't protect anyone, especially not her. What a mess. The pink haired kunoichi looked around. Where had Sasuke gotten to?

The Uchiha made a run for it, barely making it to the next tree. A cenbon had caught him in the shoulder. He wasn't quite sure how he had gotten into this mess, what he did know was he needed to get out of it. Quick. Sasuke took a deep breath, he needed to calm down. Just….Calm….Down…..

Sakura saw him now, leaning against a tree not far from her own. He looked afraid. _Sasuke…afraid! _The Uchiha was waiting for something. He took a deep breath catching her eye. _Just stay right there._ He willed her not to move. Then he ran. The instant he left the protection of the tree, cenbon filled the air. Sasuke barely managed to dodge most of them. He crashed into Sakura. She caught his hand to hold him still. They flattened themselves against the tree.

"What are we going to do? They've got us covered," asked Sakura firmly. Sasuke was trying to slow the pounding of his heart.

"Sakura, can you hang in there a little longer?" he asked the pink haired kunoichi beside him. Her green eyes were calm. She nodded. The raven haired Uchiha could not figure out where she was getting her compose from…even he was….he hated to say it…..a little bit…..afraid. He closed his eyes, just a little bit longer and….

"Let's go!" he yelled grabbing her hand, they made a run for it. Sakura held onto his hand with all her strength. Cenbon began to fill the air. Sasuke fending off the cenbon to the best of his ability, at least in the state he was in. His stamina was running low, cenbon were quicker and quicker finding their mark. He struggled. Sakura was dragging him now.

"The river!" she called and they leapt. The water was icy cold and the current was strong. Sasuke couldn't fight it anymore, they river dragged him down. Sakura caught his hand and pulled him to the bank. Sasuke collapsed, in pain on the grass.

"Sakura," he whispered dimly. He couldn't go on like this.

"Just hang in there, Sasuke," she whispered and pulled him up. "We've got to keep moving." As they moved at a severely slowed pace, Sakura fearfully noticed how many of the cenbon had hit Sasuke. "You shouldn't have protected me like that," she whispered gently. He winced.

"What was I…" he took a shuddering breath. "…supposed to do? Watch you get killed?" Sakura at last decided they were far enough away; she sank down into the shadows of the forest.

"I thought you hated me," she returned with a sigh of relief. Sasuke coughed heavily, the world swayed before his eyes as black spots swam in his vision.

"Why'd you drag me out of the river?" he managed to whisper. "I thought you hated me." Sakura grinned softly.

"You're such a loser sometimes, Sasuke…" she replied. "…that I need to rescue you," she said. He was quiet. Sasuke was so hard to read sometimes it was almost impossible to tell what he was thinking. Sasuke gasped as she tried to remove the needles. So she stopped.

"Don't…" he whispered "….don't stop, they're doing no good in me," he said, his fists clenched so tight that his knuckles were white. Sakura looked at him, why had he done this for her? Why'd he have to be so brave?

Finally she took a deep breath. "There," she said softly. Sasuke tried to focus in; there were running black spots in his vision. He had taken quite a beating.

"We need to move," he said at last, pulling out a roll of bandage from his pack and wrapping up some of the worst cuts. Sakura nodded and stood up. She threw her tent bag into the underbrush.

"We don't need any extra luggage," she said. Sasuke staggered up, tucking the bandages away. She took the lead once more. The Uchiha tried to keep up, but getting stuck full of cenbon doesn't do good for anybody. At last he let out a faint groan and collapsed, out cold.

When he came to, he was lying by a gleaming fire. The world spun as he sat up weakly.

"Don't push it," cautioned a voice. Sasuke sank back with a groan.

"Where are we?" he asked. Sakura sighed.

"Not close enough yet," she answered. Sasuke closed his eyes, and then pushed himself up.

"We've got to keep moving then," he said standing up. Sakura was watching him fearfully.

"You're not in any condition to go anywhere," she replied. Sasuke looked her in the eye.

"The mission is more important, don't worry about me, I'll be fine," he said. Sakura frowned at him.

"You'll just slow us down, if you're not at full strength," she said. Sasuke glared at her. _So much for us getting along…_ Sakura approached him, Sasuke blocked her first hit, but her second pushed him back down.

"I won't allow it," she said. "You need to rest." Sasuke struggled with her for several moments before lying back too tired to fight back. Sakura smiled and sat down.

"See? You're still too weak, you'd collapse before we got far," she said. Sasuke glared at her and rolled over, so he didn't have to look at her. _She's such a pain in the ass…_

Morning came and Sasuke slept late, Sakura as well. When he woke up, he stood up shakily and stretched. Then with a yawn he rolled up his sleeping bag. Up he hoisted his backpack.

"Come on, you lazy forehead, let's go," he called. Sakura growled angrily and jumped to her feet, driving a fist into Sasuke's stomach.

"You wanna fight Uchiha!" she yelled angrily as Sasuke coughed taking a step back. The Uchiha managed a smile.

"Maybe later…forehead," he choked. Sakura's eyes were gleaming with flames.

"What did you call me?" she demanded. Sasuke straightened.

"Nothing," he muttered.

"Good," she said brushing off her skirt. "Then let's go."

They walked as silently as they could manage in the early morning light. Sakura kept a close eye on the Uchiha, whether she liked him or not, she had a responsibility to see to it that he didn't over do it. Sasuke knew she was watching him, which was almost as annoying as her talking. He sighed and turned to her.

"I'm not gonna pass out," he said. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Even if you were going to pass out, it's not like you'd tell me that," she said. "In fact you'd do everything to deny it. It's all about you isn't it, Sasuke? I'm watching to make sure you don't hurt yourself and put our mission in jeopardy," said Sakura hate gleaming faintly in her eyes. Sasuke saw the hate there and realized, that, no matter what he did she wasn't going to leave him be. She hated him now. With good reason.

"Then do you want me to take a break?" he demanded. Even if she did hate him, it didn't mean he had to hate her back. She looked at him with an annoyed look. _What game is he playing?_ Sasuke glared right back. "Well, yes or no?" he said stopping. Sakura was at loss for words. _This can't be Sasuke…_ She narrowed her eyes at him, and drew a kunai and flung it at him. Sasuke parried it.

"What was that for?" he said. She just shook her head.

"Let's keep going, we can rest later," she answered. Sasuke adjusted his pack and followed as Sakura took the lead.

The rest of the morning passed with little mishap. When at last they stopped for lunch Sasuke sat down with a sigh of relief. He wouldn't admit it but he was sore and hurting all over. Sakura built a fire and made some tea. She passed a cup of it to Sasuke. Blowing on it softly, he lifted it for a sip. As the liquid ran into his mouth it was ice cold. Sasuke sputtered and spat it out. Sakura giggled maliciously.

"That's for that spider thing," she said. "I told you I'd get you back." Sasuke wiped the drips of cold tea off his face.

"Okay, you've had your joke, can I have something to drink now?" he asked giving her a faint smile. Grinning with evil pleasure she handed him a warm glass of tea. He was taking a sip when out of nowhere a kunai hit his cup shattering it. Sasuke leapt back kunai in hand ready to fight. Sakura had drawn her kunai as well.

This time Sasuke didn't feel the cenbon before they filled the air.

"Sasuke!" yelled Sakura as the needles thickened the afternoon with their pointed tips. They caught hands parrying needles, backing up away from the source in the trees. Suddenly a kunai in the needles caught Sakura. With a scream she went down. Sasuke snarling curses fended off the cenbon as he lifted up the pink haired kunoichi and made a leap for it. Needles suddenly were not just flying from the one direction but from behind them as well. Sasuke managed to push Sakura out of the range and into the bushes, where she curled up with a groan. In that moment a kunai caught him as well. He went down hard, and fought to get away.

As the world grew dark, he heard the yell of a girl and the scream of the assassins in the trees. Then all was cold, and silent.

As he slowly opened his eyes, his world was hazy, but as it cleared Sasuke let out a cry of horror. It was like one of those bad dreams he was always having except this time it was real. Ino was adjusting the damp cloth on his forehead.

_Ino._

Sasuke inwardly shuddered. Actually he was glad he had gotten Sakura for this mission and not Ino.

"Are you feeling better Sasuke-kun?" she asked sitting back on her heels. Come to think of it Sasuke felt awful. He didn't give her an answer just closed his eyes and hoped sooner or later he would wake up and this would all just be a bad nightmare.

"Can't face the pain?" asked a voice. Sasuke groaned, it could only belong to one person, who happened to sound a lot like Sasuke, and that would be…_Sai._ Sasuke's eyes snapped open and he pushed himself up. His glare of death was fixed on his replacement, who despite claims he had no family looked a terrible lot like an Uchiha.

"Don't hurt yourself," warned Ino pushing him back down.

"Where…" Sasuke fumbled not realizing how much effort it cost to speak. "Where is…Sakura?" he managed. Ino looked afraid, and though she tried to hide it, she failed miserably.

"She's…over there," replied Ino nodding toward the fire. Sasuke moved wanting to see her.

"Yeah, the hag's taking it worse than you," put in Sai who was sitting by the fire. Sasuke would not listen to Sai's insults any longer and in one movement was on his feet. He drew several shuriken stars and threw them as he tripped over Ino's outstretched foot. Sai dodged the stars and Sasuke crashed face first into the mud.

"Don't fight with Sai-kun," she reprimanded. Sasuke curled up, his whole body throbbing. These two were the last ones he would have ever wanted to save him. He shivered in the breezes of the early night. Ino dropped a blanket over his shoulders, and then she and Sai curled up together by the fire, just talking.

Sasuke closed his eyes. _This is the worst nightmare I've ever had._ Sasuke pinched himself, and after feeling the stinging pain in his arm, and the night not exploding into his room and he not sitting up breathing heavily. _Unfortunately, this is real._

After a while Sai lay back to sleep as Ino climbed up into a tree to keep watch. Sasuke, silently, dragged himself across the ground, to where Sakura lay, not far from the great blazing fire.

"Sakura?" he whispered softly as he lay down near her. The pink haired kunoichi grimaced and weakly opened her eyes. She rolled to her side and found her self looking into the onyx eyes of her least favorite Uchiha. (Actually, he was the only Uchiha she knew.) She blinked as if she wasn't sure it was real.

"Sasuke?" she asked dimly. He swallowed nodding. Sakura closed her eyes, her brow wrinkling. "Can't you just leave me alone?" she whispered softly. "You've already broken my heart once," she added ever so softly at the end. Sasuke caught it, and he already knew he had wronged her. He wanted to make peace with her, but it was more difficult than he had thought. He rolled onto his back, gingerly, his whole body stinging. Sakura too rolled over to her back. They gazed up into the endlessly navy blue abyss filled with the shimmering stars.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Sakura asked at last. Sasuke rolled over to look at her again. She met his eyes with her beautiful emerald ones.

"Not as beautiful as you," he whispered back and then leaned forward and kissed her. Sakura closed her eyes savoring it. _This has to be a dream; Sasuke would never kiss me in real life._ When at last they broke, Sakura was looking at him in amazement.

"Why'd you have to do that?" she whispered. He shrugged.

"Sakura, could you forgive me for what I did," he began, "three years ago? Can we stop fighting? Are we cool?" he asked softly. Sakura looked at him considering._ The Sasuke I knew would never give up and never give in, but now…he's apologizing?_ Sakura met his eyes again, lost in their deep unfathomable depths.

"Yeah," she said softly at last giving him a warm smile. "We're cool."

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**Please Review**

**-Hammy Uchiha**


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